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Happy Saturday!

I’m back in your inboxes again after only a few days! I hope that’s ok!

It has been a busy week with all sorts of exciting conversations about what we’re doing and the future.

The Irish Walled Towns Network conference went really well and I think we inspired a few people with our Sails and Tales exhibition story and our Wildest Dreams postcards. I suspect some other towns might be exploring their wildest dreams soon. How cool is that?!

A big thank you to everyone who has been part of our story so far.

And it’s not over yet! We’ve got flyers to distribute about the town to help spread the word about Sails and Tales.

So far the Foxy Tail Coffee van at the Castle have offered to take some for us and we’re hoping they will soon are available from the visitor information centre in the Castle. If you can help us distribute them, get in touch.

We’ve also nearly finalised our VR recording of the exhibition and will be uploading it to our website soon. Thanks to everyone who contributed to our crowdfunder for the recording. Here’s a sneak peek!

The future of the Talking Shop

This week we’ve also been talking about how to use the Talking Shop now that our lottery project is coming to an end. We’re definitely here until January and we’re putting in a funding application soon that will mean we’re here for much longer, if we’re successful.

We want it to feel like a community space and used for all sorts of exciting and interesting things.

This week Cithrah were here for a workshop with Julie from Purple Earth.

I’ve also been talking to:

• a musician about putting on a performance which would be live streamed to Hong Kong

• a local actor about putting on a play she wrote during lockdown in the shop, and

• an artist about running a series of painting classes.

If you’d like to work here during the day as an alternative to working from home, get in touch. Working from home can be great and can also be a bit lonely sometimes. We’ve been told our space is welcoming and we think it would make a great co-working space during the day. We’re mostly using it during the evening for workshops and events. Give us a shout if you’re interested in working here sometimes. We wouldn’t charge but would be happy to accept the odd donation to put towards our work in Carrick.

If you have any ideas about how you could use the shop, get in touch. Let’s experiment over the next few months and have a bit of fun!

Bring a Friend to Carrick

Do you have a friend who has never been to Carrick? What would you show them if you invited them to visit? Where would you take them for lunch or a drink? Which shops would you visit? What do you think they would say about Carrick?

Tatjana Simpson invited her friend, Rose, to Carrick a few weeks ago and has written a blog for us sharing her reflections and Rose’s. Tatjana used the knowledge that she gained about Carrick on a guided tour that Laura Patrick did for us as part of our mapping workshops. You can read Tatjana’s and Rose’s reflections on our town here.

As we approach the last month of our project, we’d like to invite you to Bring a Friend to Carrick and see our home through a fresh pair of eyes.

To set you up well, we’d like to offer you a guided tour of the town and a visit to Carrick Museum so that you’ve got some facts and stories to share with your friend.

After your visit, we’d like you to share your reflections with us through a survey or a chat in the shop.

If you’d like to take part in this little experiment, reply to this newsletter and we can work out when best to run a guided tour.

Vegan chat on Tuesday evening

Did you see in the news this week that meat consumption has reduced by almost 20% in the last decade?

Have you stopped eating meat or do you eat less meat?

Do you follow a vegan diet or are you interested in finding out more about veganism?

Do you think vegans are well-served in Carrick? Would you like to share your top tips with others about places to go and how to make the transition to a vegan diet?

In search of storage space

Debra has been in touch as she is looking for storage space in the town. She’s tried the conventional options with no success. She says:

‘We’ve moved into an apartment. We are quite sure that over the years we are going to collect plenty of goodies as well as stuff for the kids. We don’t have a garage. We are looking for someone who’s got an outside room or garage that they’d be willing to rent to us. Already we need to put things in there like bikes, camping gear, barbeque, paint etc. We’d ideally within reason like to come and go if that’s at all possible. We’d be happy to pay perhaps £100 per month or £120’

If you can help, get in touch with Debra at debra@workerantdesign.com.

And if we can help you with this kind of thing by including it in our newsletter, let me know.

In the meantime, enjoy your weekend and I hope to see you in the Talking Shop soon.